Timor v South Ossetia
Posted by brad on August 30th, 2008
Apart from the size of the stakes, there is no moral difference.
The little time I’ve spent taking in information about this issue for the past few weeks had given me the impression there was something I was missing, there must be some reason why Russia was so out of bounds here v our response in Timor. There is no difference, in fact following the US-Polish agreement on anti-missile defences (including defensive patriots!) there is plenty of good reason for Russia to stay firm.
I got a better understanding and this article from a friend at work today, definitely worth a read.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Small Guy (Timor, SOssetia) wishes to secede from Large Guy (Indonesia, Georgia) because of ethic differences. Huge Guy (UN, Russia) steps in. Shots are fired, everyone goes home. You’re right, no real difference.
The Russians did warn everyone that ethnically based secession wasn’t fantastic idea in Kosovo. They didn’t say anything about giving us a demonstration in the lab, but hey: who doesn’t like a surprise.
Are we more pissed about Central Asia because our energy pipelines are threatened by a small country’s wish to practice self determination, whereas in Timor our energy position was reinforced?
Gotta be cynical, climate change will kill us all in 50 years.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
The cynic says this is all wag the dog, how else is Rice’s pop-up appearence in Poland a good idea?